“I was stunned,” Gregg said during an interview with Fox News’s Greta Van Susteren. “I was very surprised. I think he just got carried away in the emotion or maybe the hyperbole of the moment and threw those lines in there.”

Reid went after Republicans on Monday for using stalling tactics to try to kill health care reform.

“You think you've heard these same excuses before?” Reid said during remarks on the floor of the Senate. “You're right. In this country there were those who dug in their heels and said, 'Slow down, it's too early. Let's wait. Things aren't bad enough' — about slavery.”

Gregg suspected that Reid would not likely repeat the line, saying it was “just so foolish and really out of context and totally inappropriate, obviously. And I'm sure if he had to do it again, he probably wouldn't have said something like that.”

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele have called on Reid to apologize, but Gregg said the best thing the Senate majority leader could do would be to “just forget it and move on.”

Reid’s office has shown no sign that the Nevada Democrat will back off from the comment.